Reading One Minute for Every Mile of Iditarod

All five Door County school library media centers and all eight locations of the Door County Library are partnering to offer a county-wide winter reading challenge to students in first through eighth grade. The IditaRead Library Reading Challenge will encourage students to read one minute for every mile on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for a total of 1,049 minutes. Students have been given six weeks to complete this challenge from Feb. 15 to March 31, 2016. Participants in the challenge will track their reading minutes and earn prizes at checkpoints along the way from their school library media centers. Participants who finish the challenge will earn an IditaRead certificate and a chance to win books from the public library.

During the IditaRead Challenge, school library programming will teach students more about Alaska and the history of the Iditarod. Students will read books, research and visit the public library website (DoorCountyLibrary.org/IditaRead) to help them understand more about the annual race. Some students will also have the opportunity to participate in a live video conference with students in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race takes place in Alaska each year in early March. Mushers and their sled dog teams race approximately 1,049 miles from Anchorage to Nome. The race usually takes 9-15 days with teams racing through blizzards, freezing temperatures, and brutal winds. Door County students shouldn’t have to worry about the wind and weather during their race, but putting in 1,049 minutes with a book will be challenge enough.